The purpose of this article is to examine through a case study of the merger of Telia–Telenor why firms from apparently similar national cultures can fail to form a co-operative venture. Telia and Telenor were the largest telecom operators in Sweden and Norway, respectively. Both were government-owned with a strong monopoly over their respective national markets for a long time. Despite perceived similarities between the negotiating parties in national culture, corporate practice, and language, the negotiation eventually went askew and the ongoing merger ended in December 1999 after only two months in existence. We describe the process of the Telia–Telenor merger negotiation and analyze it from a cross-cultural management perspective. Our major finding is that historical sentiments, feelings and emotions, if not handled well, can cause fatal damage to cross-cultural business ventures.